Officials say the boxes are 2,000 years old. Some are engraved with designs and even names, giving clues to their origin and contents. The boxes contain bone fragments and remnants of what experts say is pottery buried with the deceased.

The authority says the boxes were recovered Friday in Jerusalem when police observed a suspicious nighttime transaction involving two cars, four people and the 11 boxes. Once police realized the boxes were of archaeological significance, they alerted the Antiquities Authority.

Two suspects were still being held, and the others are under house arrest, according to the authority.

These boxes, or ossuaries, are believed to have originated from the Second Temple Period. Experts say they are from within a 1.3-mile radius of Jerusalem.

The Antiquities Authority already has more than 1,000 of these ancient boxes, but deputy director of the authority Eitan Klein said each is significant.

"We can learn from each ossuary about a different aspect of language, art and burial practice," he said. "And we can learn about the soul of the person."

Some of the boxes feature elaborate engravings, which Klein says is indicative of wealth and a high social status of the deceased. Two were inscribed with names — Yoezer and Ralphine.